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Here and There…Now and Then |
Oak Leaves
There is nothing special about oak leaves. There are hundreds of thousands of them falling this week from trees throughout our area. And yet, each one of them is amazingly beautiful. Here are just a few, with the late afternoon sun shining through them. There are many beautiful things in this world and sometimes we don’t have to travel far to see them. The simple beauty of golden brown leaves against a darkening blue sky astounds me.
Cerveza Pacífico and Heineken
We went out to dinner this evening and I took a few pictures in the restaurant. That’s always a little touchy, because I don’t want people in the restaurant thinking I’m taking their picture (especially if I am taking their picture). I do like lights and the patterns they make when out of focus. This picture if of two of the three neon lights that were above the bar. On the left is an advertisement for Cerveza Pacífico and on the right one for Heineken. I took some that are in focus, as well, but I like the colors in this one better.
Broken Mug
Here’s a random picture for you. This mug got dropped on the pavement outside. As you would expect, it shattered. We have more mugs than we almost ever need but once in a while, lots of people will be over and everyone wants tea or coffee and we’re glad we have them. Then, of course, there is a certain attrition rate, and eventually you have fewer. There is a box with a few mugs in it out in the garage. They were to get rid of but they never made it beyond the garage. Maybe I’ll bring one of those back inside.
Sunset
There was a really amazing sunset this evening. Dorothy and I went to Maureen’s house and I had us leave at about 5:00 even though we were not supposed to get there until 5:30. We stopped on the way to take a few pictures and I’m really glad we stopped when we did. By the time we got to Maureen’s the sunset was basically finished. I said to Dorothy, “I left early on purpose so we’d have time to stop for pictures.” She said, “some people make allowances for heavy traffic. My dad makes allowances for sunsets.”
The first picture here, on the right, was taken with my 10-20mm zoom lens at about 17mm and shows a good portion of the sky. The colors were quite amazing. The second one, below, is a panorama made from six vertically oriented images taken with my 100mm. It basically just includes the brightest portion of the first image, right along the ground.
Sunset Panorama
Fallen Maple Leaves
When I was very young (no, wait, that’s A. A. Milne)…
When I was young, we used to listen to a record by The Limeliters called Through Children’s Eyes. Interestingly, it’s one record that both Cathy’s family and ours listened to, so we both know the songs on it. One is called Lollipop Tree and it’s about having a tree grown from a lollipop stick. Naturally the fruit of the lollipop tree is lollipops. In my mind, this is sort of what the ground under my lollipop tree would look like. Of course it would be much stickier than this, and there would probably be ants all over it, but that’s a problem not addressed by the song.
Masonry Screws
Like yesterday, I didn’t take any pictures until late in the day. In fact, I was thinking of heading to bed when I realized that I hadn’t taken any all day. So, I looked around for something colorful to photograph. I caught sight of these masonry screws and thought they might make an interesting picture. I used a few of them recently to put up a bracket in the garage for hanging shovels and rakes and things. Actually, the first time I put it up, I tried drilling in the bricks but the bit wasn’t sharp enough. I settled for putting holes in the mortar instead. That was much easier but the screws weren’t tight enough in the loose mortar to hold very well. I bought a new bit (a pack of five, actually) and was able to get new holes drilled into the bricks. When these screws went in, they were quite tight. This thing isn’t coming down in a hurry. They’re colorful, too.
Dorothy’s Braid
I was late getting around to taking any pictures today. I was taking pictures of small things in the kitchen when Dorothy came in with a new braid in her hair. I asked if I could take a picture of that, and here it is. It is called a fishtail braid. Perhaps we’ll resume our regularly scheduled collection of fall color photographs tomorrow. Who can tell?
Zelkova Tunnel
If the scene in yesterday’s first post was Autumn’s Cathedral then I think today’s is Autumn’s Chapel. It’s smaller and more intimate. Of course, it’s a fairly busy road, so in that sense, the title is totally wrong. Theze are Zelkova trees and they are beautiful this time of year. They are a good choice for a street tree and a good replacement, in some ways, for the American elm. They don’t get as big, but that could be considered an advantage, actually.
I really like this stretch of road. On a sunny day, it’s nice to drive into this tunnel and enjoy the deep shade the trees make. Of course, on a dark and stormy day, it can be like driving into night. Still, it makes me happy and I’m glad they have more planted, which are growing into similar tunnels at other spots along the road.
Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)
Yes, squirrels are cute. They can be hugely fun to watch. They run around, up and down trees, leaping from branch to branch, and when it comes to getting food, particularly food left out for birds, they are ingenious. We have a bird feeder outside our dining room window. It’s a nice platform feeder with a glass top and really good for feeding birds when there is snow on the ground. Of course, the squirrels know about it and in fact, they end up eating most of whatever is left there. I’ve been meaning to rig up something to discourage the squirrels but haven’t gotten around to it yet. So, this morning I enjoyed watching a squirrel eat a few leftover wasabi peas. Yes, wasabi peas. They had gone a little soft from being left out and without the crunch of the dried pea, they just were not the same. This fellow, however, didn’t seem to mind at all. At least he didn’t actually complain. This is, of course, our own furry-tailed rat, the eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis).
Autumn’s Cathedral
I took Dorothy to take the SAT this morning. The sky was amazingly dramatic as I was coming home. I picked up my camera and went out into the neighborhood. It was a beautiful day with the trees and shrubs all of beautiful hues.
This view, which is not as dramatic in the photograph as it was in reality, brought to mind a cathedral built of trees, reaching as high and much longer then the largest cathedral I’ve ever seen.
Bare Tree and Fall Colors
The autumn has proceeded fairly slowly this year. There were individual trees and bushes with significant and sometimes brilliant color but in general, the woods have remained mostly green The last day or two, however, has brought out the best in the fall color and, unless I’m very much mistaken, you’ll be seeing a few pictures of it here over the next few days.
This picture is taken from a window in my building, just down the hall from my office. This morning it was overcast and the diffuse light brought out the red of the tree in the background to an amazing extent, contrasting wonderfully with the grey of the naked branches of the tree in the foreground. Later the sun came out. It’s still quite striking, I think, but less so that it was earlier in the day.
Katie and her Kids
We only had 32 trick or treaters for Halloween this year. Of course it started to rain about the time the kids started to appear so I suspect that kept the numbers down a bit. Katie came by with her three, and they stayed at the door long enough for me to get their picture. I got another one, later, of Porter and Joseph, which is good but not nearly so cute.
Henry and Greta
Last Wednesday I posted three pictures, two of Calvin and one of Henry. All three pictures had other people with these beautiful boys. I know I’ve already posted a photo for today but I can’t resist posting this one, of Henry and his mom, Greta. It’s just too good a picture to pass up.
Generally I’ve been trying to fill this space to the left of the photograph. It isn’t necessary, I know, but it’s forcing me to write a bit more as an exercise. In this case, I’m just going to let the photo speak for itself.
Willow Oak
Outside my office windows, in an island in the parking lot, stands a willow oak (Quercus phellos). It isn’t a particularly healthy tree, which isn’t surprising when you consider the limited space for its roots. The top and outer ends of the branches have mostly lost all their leaves by now, but the central part of the tree is a beautiful, golden color. Particularly in the afternoon, when the sun hits it, it lights up like a torch and is quite lovely.
Rose ‘Perle d’Or’
I’m really happy with this rose bush. I don’t know that there has been a time since May when there wasn’t at least a rose or two and right now there are more than a dozen. It’s the last week of October and we’ve had a frost and it’s still blooming. It hasn’t really gotten bitter cold yet and I know it has to end soon but for now, I’m still enjoying the fragrance of roses when I come out my front door.
How awesome is that?
Small Sunset
Some sunsets are grand affairs, filling the sky from east to west with brilliant color. Others, most, in fact, are simple and forgetful, with the sun dropping below the horizon without any special color or fanfare. Tonight was somewhere in between. There was a little color right down on the the horizon but most of the sky was clear and an ordinary blue. But with a longer lens, looking between the trees and our back yard neighbors’ houses, there was still a colorful sunset to be seen. Actually, for about two minutes some very thin, wispy clouds all across the sky lit up with a very pale pink, but the picture of them wasn’t as beautiful as the reality, so this is a picture of the horizon.
Floating Leaves
These leaves are floating in a bird bath on our back patio. The colors are so intense, partly because of the late afternoon light. I really like the intensity of fall colors. In the spring I like pinks and pale yellows as well as anything but in the fall, it’s the zing and pow that I’m looking for. Sort of nature’s fireworks. It’s finally gotten cold and we’ve had frost on the ground the last couple days. To me, the temperature and the colors go together perfectly.
Female Cardinal
Outside our dining room window is a small garden bed that doesn’t get a lot of special care. It’s partially under the eaves so the back is fairly dry but that doesn’t seem to deter the things growing there. We have a clump of maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum) that came from our old yard in Gaithersburg and before that from my parents’ house. There is a big clump of blackberry lily (Iris domestica) that blooms wonderfully through the middle of the summer. There is also a huge butterfly bush (Buddleja) seedling that would be nicer if it were not so huge. All the spare space in the bed is taken up by Virginia Knotweed (Persicaria virginiana var. filiformis ‘Painter’s Palette’). That has loads of very tiny red flowers followed by brown seeds (achenes, technically). Apparently, and I didn’t realize this, the birds love the seeds. I’ve noticed cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) and white-throated sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis) on them a few times over the last few days and managed to get a few decent photographs through the dining room window. So far, only the female cardinal has sat high enough in the them to be clearly visible.
Fritz
Dorothy was going out to our friends’ farm this evening and rather than let her get a ride, which would have made a lot of sense, I took her myself. Mostly it’s because I like the excuse to visit the farm. We got there just before dusk, which wasn’t the best time for pictures, but I took a few anyway, including this one of the youngest farmer, Fritz. Like most very young people, he didn’t know what to make of me at first but after a few pictures, and after I showed them to him, he warmed up to me a little. Enough for something of a smile, anyway.
I took some with Anna in them and a few with Dorothy holding Fritz but none of them are as good as this one, which I like.
Squash Seeds
I got home this evening and hadn’t taken any photographs at all today. Some days it’s easy to take pictures and other days, not so much. Today was a not-so-much day. I got home and started fixing dinner. I had an acorn squash that I had been meaning to cook for a while and decided tonight would be as good a time as any, so I cut it open and cleaned out the seeds. I don’t know of Solomon will get them or if they’d go outside for the wild birds, but they won’t go to waste, I can promise you that. Anyway, it was something to photograph.
